PLUS: Sir Clive Woodward reveals why England can reign supreme again

IAM in awe of the entire England team and those who coached and prepared them after that performance. I expected the win, I’ve been sticking my head above the parapet and predicting an England win all week, but what surprised me was the 80-minute excellence of that display.

I can’t imagine England have ever played better on the biggest stage. I felt a huge surge of pride watching this team and admired how clever and skilled they were.

Eddie Jones has got this group ticking over beautifully. What a job he has done, though I was glad to see him in business-like mode and already thinking about the final. He knows England must still go to the well once more.

England played with great tempo. They were powerful, disciplined, clever, indomitable, unmoveable — everything as a fan you’d want them to be.

There was a beautiful variety to their game that New Zealand couldn’t cope with. England absolutely battered them. The winning margin could, perhaps should, have been much greater.

For me, two players stood out: skipper Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje, their talisman lock.

Farrell is why I have always believed England can take this World Cup. He is a winner, it’s in his DNA, he’s spent his career collecting silverware with Saracens. He knows how to deliver on the day. He copped a nasty dead leg in the first half but the thought of coming off will never have entered his mind.

This was his time and he would not be denied. That kind of diehard attitude is infectious. England took their cue from him.

Then there is the remarkable Itoje. For me, he has been biding his time in this tournament. He knew the mighty summits that needed to be climbed towards the end and didn’t waste too much energy in the foothills.

Perfectly efficient and effective in the pool games, he has won enough trophies with Saracens to know it’s a different ball game come the knockout stages. Against Australia, he was excellent. Yesterday, he was off the scale against Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock.

Huge physicality, invaluable steals on the floor, immovable at the ruck, marauding through various mauls, a 24-carat nuisance from start to finish. Super Maro, indeed. He showed in that second Lions Test against New Zealand in 2017 how good he can be. This was another level.

The front row were immense and disciplined and left New Zealand chasing shadows with clever handling and lay-backs.

This used to be the domain of southern hemisphere teams, the sublime ball-handling front five forwards who we wondered if we could ever emulate. England now set the pace. Wales are also excellent at it, the northern hemisphere has learned well.

An incredible week lies ahead. Everybody concerned with the English game should savour this win but Jones and his players have got to keep their game face on. The job isn’t finished. This is a fit England team and all that hard work at the summer camps has been banked. Now it’s about recovery, rehab and fine-tuning a few things later in the week.

Eddie has been involved in two World Cup finals before — as Australia coach in 2003 and as an assistant with the Springboks four years later — so he knows the pitfalls.

He will have England cooking by Saturday and if they repeat this performance, it would require a remarkable effort from their opponents to deny them.